When, late in 1862, Mathew Brady posted a notice on the door of his New York City studio reading, "The Dead of Antietam," it proclaimed an exhibition of photographs taken by him and his assistants of the aftermath of the bloodiest day in American history—images that shocked many of his patrons. The Civil War was the first major conflict to be recorded in photos, an enterprise that bankrupted Brady but significantly advanced the practice of documentary photography. This stirring album forms a visual history of the war, with more than 300 photos—officer portraits, camp scenes, fortifications, naval vessels, battlefields, ruined cities, and the casualties of war—made by Brady and the men he trained.